“None of this was expected”: A Q&A with Terry Fallis, winner of Canada Reads

Terry Fallis’ debut novel, The Best Laid Plans, took a circuitous route on its journey to winning Canada Reads, which it did on Wednesday. The novel, which concerns a disaffected political aide, and a reluctant politician who finds himself unexpectedly elected to parliament, was originally a podcast, which Fallis posted on his personal website. After failing to land a publisher — or event an agent — Fallis self-published the novel in the fall of 2007. It won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and was subsequently picked up by McClelland & Stewart, who also published Fallis’ second novel, The High Road, late last year. Fallis spoke to Mark Medley shortly after learning he’d won Canada Reads 2011.

Q: I’m surprised you’re not out celebrating.

A: I’m supposed to get in the car and drive to Brantford for a McMaster Alumni Book Club meeting. So life goes on.

Q: You’re dedicated.

A: I like doing those events. I’m looking forward to it, actually. I’m looking forward to the two-hour quiet drive in solitude, because I can’t even begin to count the number of e-mails I’ve had in the last two hours. It’s an unbelievable unleashing of support.

Q: Well, it sounds as if you’ve stopped hyperventilating.

A: I think so, but barely. I still haven’t touched back down. It’s an astonishing thing. I’m still shocked.

Q: When you look at the journey this book has taken — from podcast, to self-publishing, to the Leacock, to M&S — did you ever think it would go this far?

A: I never thought that. Seriously, it’s no a word of a lie to tell you that I still — every morning — give thanks that I won the Leacock Medal three years ago. None of this was expected and so far from my radar as far as outcomes that were even remotely possible. It’s amazing. I’m thunderstruck.

Q: Tell me about the Canada Reads experience.

A: It was interesting to listen to the panelists, and I thought they did a great job. Ali Velshi, I thought, had a very good handle on the book, and what I was trying to achieve. Although, as you know, reading is a very personal process, and different readers will take different things out of the book — as we saw within the panel itself, where Debbie [Travis] had real trouble with the book. So I think I learned that one ought not to strive to please everybody. In fact, it’s probably impossible to write something worth it’s literary salt with the goal of pleasing everybody. We’re such different creatures, one to the other, that if you can get more readers liking the book then disliking the book, that’s a pretty good goal to shoot for.

Q: Are you excited this book will now find a new audience?

A: That’s the most amazing part. Readers who never would have even have thought about pulling my book down off a bookstore shelf, let alone walking to the cashier with it, are now going to do that. And that’s the wonder of Canada Reads, that people overcome their initial reluctance about a book and they will read it. It’s a bit overwhelming, and it’s certainly every rookie writer’s dream, and probably almost every other writer’s dream, whether they’re new to it or not.

Q: Speaking of writers, do you hope that your victory will inspire other writers who may have had trouble finding a publisher or agent self-publish their work?

A: That hasn’t really been in my mind, but enough people have said that that’s how it affected them that I’m honoured by that thought. I hope that people, if they take anything out of the story, they take out of it that there are things that one can do when all seems lost, when you’ve got that 49th rejection letter, or when you’ve been greeted with a deafening silence from agents and publishers, as I initially was, there are things that you can do if you have belief in your writing to get it out there. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be warmly received, but you can get it out there.